Sammy Keyes and the Hotel Thief by Wendelin Van Draanen

Thank you again, everyone, for making Under the Night Sky part of a successful blog tour on “Read These Books and Use Them.” I am happy to announce that Claudia is the winner of the copy of the book. If you are curious, how I pick the winner so scientifically. . .I put all the names in a cup and draw one out. If you aren’t Claudia, make sure to check out Under the Night Sky because you won’t be disappointed. Now on to another book. . .

Sammy Keyes and the Hotel Thief

Middle-grade novel, mystery
7th-grade girl as main character
Rating: I absolutely love the character, Sammy. This is the first book in the series, which is told wonderfully through her eyes and in her voice!

Short, short summary: Sammy Keyes lives “illegally” with her grandmother in a retirement building (no one is supposed to live there but her grandma). Sammy’s mom left her there, and Sammy and her grandma make it work. Sammy often leaves by the fire escape, so she won’t be seen coming and going so often. They keep her clothes and personal belongings hidden from nosy neighbors. Life is going along pretty well until Sammy gets bored one afternoon and uses her grandmother’s binoculars to see a thief taking money from a purse in a hotel room across the street. And then she. . .waves at the thief! That is soooooo Sammy. Now, Sammy doesn’t want to tell her grandma what she saw because she will be in trouble for using the binoculars, but she also wants to help catch the thief, who looks kind of familiar. The rest of the book leads you on an adventure with clues along the way and an introduction to some of the wonderful characters in Sammy’s life. Sammy not only deals with a hotel thief in this book, but she also has a problem with a bully.

So, what do I do with this book?

1. Solve the mystery along with Sammy. Whenever you read a mystery with your students or your children (and these are perfect for read-alouds), you are working on prediction skills. Keep track of clues or strange findings like Sammy does in the book. You can even have a mystery bulletin board that lists suspects, clues, “the crime,” predictions of who your kids think “did it,” and then the mystery’s solution when you finish reading the book.

2. Sammy has to deal with a bully in this book. How do your students feel about the way Sammy handles the situation? Even though the scene is funny, are there better ways to solve the problem? What else could Sammy have done? What would your students or your children do in this situation or another situation where they have been bullied? Ask your students to write about their experiences and opinions in their reading response journals.

3. Sammy seems to get into more trouble when she is trying to hide things from her grandma–like using the binoculars. Although this book is fun because Sammy solves her own problems, in your students’ or your children’s real lives, what do they think would be the best solution if they saw a hotel thief through binoculars? Again this would be a perfect prompt for an entry in their reading response journals.

If you have used this book or any of the Sammy Keyes mysteries with your students or your children, please leave a comment here.

If you have a book for me to read and review, please email me at margodll@aol.com or leave a message here.